Mail Call - Dec. 23

December 22, 2011

“I just read in Mail Call recently, someone complaining about illegally parked cars, especially the ones parked on the wrong side of the street, pointing in the wrong direction. Good luck getting that remedied. It’ll take a long time, but if you work with the city police and the city council, it’ll eventually stop. I had the same problem in my neighborhood, and it actually affected the school buses picking up little kids. You can imagine how ugly that situation was. But if you’re patient and work with the right people and the authorities, you can get that situation fixed, if it’s in your neighborhood.”— Hagerstown

“Hurray for the NTSB’s recommendation to ban all drivers’ cellphone use. This needs to become law, since I find three out of five drivers constantly tailgate and (should) disenable their ability to entertain other personal interests, when they should be paying attention to their driving habits. Maryland legislature, let’s get going on this.”— Hagerstown

“This call is in reply to the Greencastle, Pa., caller about how those of us who are offended by the dead deer in the paper, pictures of them, and they said that we should skip looking at the pictures and turn the page. Well, it’s pretty hard to skip looking at something that you don’t know you’re going to look at it until you turn the page and it’s looking at you. I still say put the hunters in, but not the dead deer.”— Falling Waters, W.Va.

“I just ran across a very interesting quote from Thomas Jefferson. It says, ‘If Americans ever allow banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks will deprive the people of all property, until their children will wake up homeless.’ Sound familiar to anyone?”— Halfway

“To the caller from Smithsburg: Apparently you’re a man, or perhaps a woman. I realize we have to thin out the amount of deer in the community. You are an animal lover, but ... the person who invoked the conversation, as well as me, doesn’t like to kill anything. So why would you have a hard time understanding that? Not everyone on Earth is like you. Animals are almost like people.”— Clear Spring

“Re: Hagerstown caller commenting on PETA protesters, a long time ago, people had to hunt to get the leather and fur for clothes, and the meat to eat. There were no cotton, silk, or nylon fabrics. It was that survival that led to us being here today. Leather for shoes, handbags, coats, can be a by-product of the commercial process of putting meat on our tables. However, as for their fur to make coats for the vain and the rich, as far as killing other animals, yes, some provide meat on our tables, and maybe some are donated to the food kitchens. However, way too many are hunted simply for the sport and putting a trophy on the wall.”— Hagerstown

“There is a man of foreign descent, in a green car, with an accomplice who is dropped off, and they’re in the area. They are asking for directions to a specific place, and while he keeps you busy at the car, he or she goes in your house and steals your jewelry, and this all happens in a matter of minutes. Everyone please beware.”— Hagerstown

“This is to the caller from — that wrote in about the PETA protesters at The Maryland Theatre, about how they — she’s sure that they wear leather shoes and carry leather purses and all. I happen to know that you are wrong, because I’m a member of PETA, and so are a lot of my friends, and I know a lot of people who work in PETA in D.C., and they don’t wear animal fur and they don’t wear any products that are by, made by animal — out of animals. So before you start ... maybe you should check your facts, because these people work hard to help animals, and you’re just wrong about everything that you said about it.”— Hagerstown

“I would like to know where I could donate some used children’s books. The Washington County library doesn’t want them. A lot of them are in real good shape and some of them are just a little used, and I would like to have another charity that I could donate them to.”— Hagerstown

“When did it happen that Social Security was considered an entitlement? I tell you, I have a small list of every politician that I’ve heard personally call Social Security an entitlement, and those people I will not vote for. I know it’s a little petty, but it’s no worse and ... no (less) petty than voting for somebody because they belong to a particular party or because they’re a particular race. It’s no worse than that. Anyway, welfare entitlements that I see, let’s get rid of the politicians’ entitlements and let’s get rid of welfare.”— Hagerstown

“I just would like to know what goes with Verizon. I received a phone book last week that was nothing but business numbers. So I took it upon myself and called Verizon and got to circulation, and they told me that we would not be getting any residential phone books this year. I asked why, they said they didn’t really know why. Does anybody out there know? If so, call Mail Call.”— Hagerstown

“This is to the caller who said that animals are put on this Earth to eat and wear. Sir, that is totally not true. Read your Bible, in Genesis. God said to have dominion over the animals, but not a thing about eating them. He give them permission to eat after the flood, when the world was underwater, and there was no vegetation. That’s when He said sacrifice goat and lamb. That’s when He give man permission to eat meat. They were not put on this Earth to eat. They were put on this Earth for our enjoyment. Read your Bibles.”— Hagerstown

“Hagerstown caller, I advise you to do your homework on unions. Republicans don’t want anyone to work for lower wages. Fact, unions have bullied their way to get businesses to go union. Union dues were used to fund Democrat campaigns. Unions spent $500 million to get President Obama elected. The jobs he created were government jobs that he turned over to the union. We pay government salaries. When union forces an increase in dues, we pay for it, and we are already broke. Check out NLRB and what they are doing to the Boeing plant in South Carolina.”— Hagerstown

“I believe in my creator. He first created himself, then the universe. All you other people will have to find your own creator of the universe. Now, do not respond to this comment. I don’t care about your creator. I don’t want to hear about it. Case closed.”— Waynesboro, Pa.

“Having read three books written by retired Air Force colonel who carried the ‘football’ under Clinton, I have to differ with last month’s caller who said it was untrue that Clinton let bin Laden go when he could have been apprehended. Clinton turned down the offer from the Sudanese government to bring bin Laden to the U.S., which allowed bin Laden to return to Afghanistan, his jihaddist training camps. Twenty-one incidents occurred under Clinton, involving bombings of our embassies, kidnapping Americans abroad, or to our allies. World Trade Center was first in 1993, USS Cole, October 2000.”— Hagerstown

“‘Christmas in Clear Spring,’ Dec. 10, was like going back in time. The town was alive with the comfort and joy of Christmas. Clear Spring knows the true meaning of Christmas.”— Clear Spring

“Good morning, Mail Call readers. I’m calling in, I got a good solution, a good idea for the budget cuts, and I think this would be a good idea for everybody. Senators, Congress, on all of them down there should be in there only four years if they’re good, eight years if they’re really good, just like the president. And I think that you’ll see a big difference in the budget cuts and all. Leave your thoughts, Mail Call readers.”— Hagerstown

“I just want to know if I missed a major winter storm. By looking at the amount of salt lying on the state roads, it must have been another blizzard. Does anybody working for the state roads have the ability to manage the use of this material? I see now why we need more gas tax, registration fees and so on.”— Hagerstown

“This is to the Maugansville caller who called in about wasting taxpayers’ money on the post office. Would The Herald-Mail please write an article about this? I’ve called in Mail Call eight times about this. The post office is not run by taxpayers’ money. The post office is self-sufficient. Get that through your head.”— Hagerstown

“Hagerstown caller, as a devoted dog owner, I’m very sorry your dog is ill, but my vet doesn’t have the policy you claim they all do, of requiring payment before treatment. And when I had to take my dogs to a specialist near D.C., they didn’t require this, either. I suggest you contact other area vets — have you tried them all? — to see if they’d be willing to work with you. And my vet and others I know of do accept credit cards, so you could use one and pay it off over time. And you could contact local humane groups and charities to see if they could help. Failing that, you could turn to family and friends. Sorry if none of these ideas help. I hope your dog recovers, and you have my sympathy.”— Frederick, Md.